Automated banking machines are well known. A common type of automated banking machine used by consumers is an automated teller machine (“ATM”), colloquially known by terms such as “cash dispenser”, “cash machine” or “hole-in-the-wall”. ATMs enable customers to carry out banking transactions. Common banking transactions that may be carried out with ATMs include the dispensing of cash in the form of paper currency, the receipt of deposits, the transfer of funds between accounts, the payment of bills, account balance inquiries and mobile phone top-up etc. The types of banking transactions a customer can carry out are determined by capabilities of the particular banking machine and the institution offering the service.
In the United Kingdom there are around seventy thousand ATMs and this number is on the increase. ATM fraud is also on the increase and perpetrators are constantly devising new ways in which to fraudulently extract cash from inside ATMs. One method in which perpetrators attempt to extract cash from an ATM is by using a cash capture device. A cash capture device is inserted by the perpetrator in to a cash dispensing slot such that the cash is intercepted by the cash capture device inside the ATM and not dispensed to a user who has requested the cash. The perpetrator then returns to the ATM to remove the cash that is retained inside the ATM. During the removal operation, the perpetrator forces open the shutter of the ATM from the closed position. In some designs of ATM, the forcing open of the shutter damages the shutter operating mechanism so that the ATM is disabled, which requires intervention by a service engineer before the ATM can return to service.
It would be desirable to provide a solution which prevents the disabling of the ATM by the shutter forcing operation, so that the fraudulent activity does not result in an unserviceable ATM.